Depression is a common mental disorder that affects up to 20% of the total population. The following symptoms of depression are common: persistent or recurrent depressed mood, anxiety, agitation, sleep disorders, abnormal stress response, and cognitive functional impairment.
Over the past decades, many accepted animal models have been developed to evaluate the activity of antidepressants under the impetus of neuropharmacology. The most widely used models are the forced swim test and the tail suspension test in rodents. In recent years, many studies showed that constant darkness, sleep deprivation, and chronic unpredictable mild stress are etiological models for the occurrence of depression. These models laid the foundation for the study of antidepressants. Although the pathogenesis of depression is still not entirely clear, changes in hippocampal synaptic plasticity (for example, long-term potentiation) and its role in cognitive function may be one of the key mechanisms underlying depression.
5-Methyl-1,3-benzenediol (commonly known as orcinol) is usually used as an inhibitor of thermal polymerization in the processing of pyrolysis intermediates for organic synthesis. It is also a reagent for the specific determination of RNA. 5-Methyl-1,3-benzenediol and its derivatives have often been used as antioxidants and they possess a degree of antibacterial activity. So far, there is no report about their use in reducing depression, anxiety, agitation, sleep disorders, abnormal stress responses, or cognitive functional impairment.